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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29784132">What's your best trait?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isaac_Axel/pseuds/Isaac_Axel'>Isaac_Axel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Personal Growth, Short One Shot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:40:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,002</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29784132</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isaac_Axel/pseuds/Isaac_Axel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"What’s your best trait?"</p><p>It wasn’t a big question, just something his father probably remembered from an old interview, but it stuck with him.</p><p>AKA<br/>Kiyotaka contemplates himself and how people think of themselves.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Oowada Mondo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What's your best trait?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Kiyotaka was young he would practice interview answers.He knew he had to be trustworthy and inspiring in order to be a good leader. He had a goal to be the best leader and he studied hard to find good answers. He would run to his father or grandfather and proudly declare he knew the perfect answer. He thought he could research any answer to perfection until his father posed one he couldn’t.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s your best trait?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t a big question, just something his father probably remembered from an old interview, but it stuck with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s your best trait?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For years, he’d assumed it was his attention to detail. He could notice things in a second. It wasn’t hard to answer, and for years he never thought about his own answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His grandfather had once said to him, when he still looked up to him, “If you look close enough, you can see their futures. You can know who’s going to help and who will betray you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kiyotaka had taken that idea to heart. He analyzed his peers for failure, analyzed his peers for improvement, analyzed them for a chance to improve, analyzed them any way he could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took years, but he did it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first question we would ask after meeting someone was the one that had seared itself in his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s your best trait?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would analyze their answers, he would watch how the person said it, and he used this question as the starting point. He would research facial expressions to show </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could, or at least he thought he could tell what someone would do with a single look.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And from the moment Kiyotaka saw his new classmates at Hope’s peak academy he saw their paths to success or failure.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If there was anyone who screamed failure, besides Hagakure (but he’d already failed, so it didn’t count), it was Oowada.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From his hair to his ghastly clothes and refusal to follow rules he was the embodiment of what his Grandfather had meant as far as Kiyotaka could tell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was a moment that made Kiyotaka question it though because he saw the details but it didn’t add up. Oowada would still get mad at everything but around Fujisaki, he would be quiet, around the Nurse from the year above he’d be nervous and talk loudly, around Leon he’d joke around, and around his gang, he’d show that he really deserved to be an ultimate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>None of that should happen. He’s a failure. Someone to get in the way</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But still, they would clash. Every day, all day, they would fight. They would argue and glare at one another over the smallest thing and it felt like the world itself rested on who won.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He’s a distraction, if he’s a failure he’s not worth time or effort.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Then they had a competition. Oowada had challenged his efforts and it was something Kiyotaka couldn’t let happen. They sat at a single table, hands locked in an arm wrestle. The others had left after half an hour. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Staring down at their hands he felt an urge to ask Oowada why. Why he refused to give up. Why he acted as he did. Why he kept such a dangerous lifestyle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So he did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And Oowada answered him. Answered him and asked his own questions.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After a while, it was hard to tell who did it first, but their arms relaxed and their competition turned into a late-night talk.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And before they left for their rooms, Kiyotaka asked one last question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What’s your best trait?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oowada had paused, looked around the room before answering slowly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My brother would’ve said my passion… Maybe my leadership. One of those, I guess.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had left the room by then and he could only assume Oowada had fallen asleep, but he kept thinking back to the other’s answer. It wasn’t thought out, if anything it seemed hardly important to Oowada. He’d thrown the answer out without much certainty behind the words as though it wasn’t important.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t even said his own favorite trait, it had been his brother’s opinion.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What is the question asking? Is it your favorite part of you? Is it what others would say it is? Is it all a trick? </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And for the first time in years, Kiyotaka was left without an answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next time Kiyotaka asked the question it had been years. He still hadn’t found the answer, but he wasn’t looking for it anymore. He wasn’t fighting to live up to his grandfather’s wishes anymore. He’d gone to teach instead. The night he asked it wasn’t to investigate the answer or analyze, it was pure curiosity.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>What’s your best trait?” </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Mondo had laughed and shrugged. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Depends what you’re talkin’ about.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked at Kiyotaka and then down to the golden band on his finger, “I could say it’s you since I love you an’ all that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He smiled down at the newly carved table, “I could say it’s my craftsmanship since it’s my job.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He looked over at the windowsill that showcased their photos before talking again. “Or I could say it’s the things Daiya liked about me.” He turned back to his dinner and took a bite before finishing his answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I don’t know how to choose”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And for the second time in his life, Kiyotaka was stunned out of a reply. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>---</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Laying in bed that evening, Mondo already snoring next to him, Kiyotaka thought about it again. Thought about the question that had driven over a decade of his life. Thought about Mondo’s answer and about all the answers he’d heard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe it’s everything. Maybe there isn’t a best, and I was just convinced there had to be. Such a simple answer. It’s not exactly news that people can be more than one thing. Hah! It’s a stupid question, isn’t it?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sighing, he smiled and let himself drift off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He hadn’t found a new “perfect answer”, but he didn’t need one. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I liked it, and thoughts?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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